What did all this ARMPAC money buy? Well, earlier this year, all three voted to weaken House Ethics Rules in an effort to protect DeLay, and combined, have voted with their disgraced leader 96 percent of the time. And oh yeah… when faced with allegations of wrongdoing by his political patron, Hastings, the hapless chair of the toothless House Ethics Committee has done what he does best… absolutely nothing.

Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., says he will return $15,000 in campaign funds from former House majority leader Tom DeLay’s political action committee… Bradley said that though the political action committee that gave him money is not under investigation he is returning it to remove any question about the nature of the contribution.

Hmm. I wonder if Reichert, Hastings or McMorris will step forward and join Rep. Bradley in doing the right thing?

Please, someone assure me that the Democatic leadership is, at this moment, clustered away developing the proper strategy to aim the bright light of truth directly into the eyes of the guilty party or parties as the case may be.. Is Frist going walk away or will he get the Martha Stewart treatment? The Republican party is drunk with power and mistakenly believes that they are untouchable. It is time to remind them that the government is FOR the PEOPLE and BY the PEOPLE. We may be slow, but as General Honore said,”We ain’t stuck on stupid”.

Goldy, what is ill-gotten about this money? There are absolutely NO criminal allegations of any sort concerning ARMPAC — Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee. So there is no basis to criticize Reichert, McMorris, or Hastings.

The indictment procured by the District Attorney in Travis County, Texas relates only to the Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee. It involved a trade of corporate soft money by TRMPAC in exchange for personal hard money from the Republican National Committee to support GOP candidates for the Texas legislature.

Frankly, the Travis County charges against Tom DeLay and others are legally bogus. The first law allegedly violated is a Texas law prohibiting corporations and union from contributing to a political party within 60 days before an election.

I would frankly submit that Texas law has no ability to prevent a corporation or union doing business in Texas from contributing to a national political party (or a political party in another state). Texas law can only prohibit contributions to a state political party (or other political cause) located in Texas.

If the Democrat hack prosecutor in Austin succeeds on the legal basis for that charge, look for the GOP dominated Texas legislature to take revenge. They could pass a law prohibiting labor unions from making any type of political contribution. This would force labor unions to either stop making political contributions of any sort anywhere in the country, or to stop representing workers in Texas.

The other part of the criminal charges deals with the swap of soft money for hard money.

Texas law permits corporations to give soft money, with certain exceptions (the main one being a prohibition to “political parties” 60 days before an election). Since TRMPAC is not a political party, the contribution was okay — so long as was used for only soft money purposes.

Texas law also permits political organizations such as the RNC, to give hard money to candidates in Texas. Basically, this money has to come from individuals originally. So the RNC donation to GOP candidates in Texas, by itself, was also legal.

Is a swap of Texas soft money for out-of-state hard money illegal? Nothing in the Texas election code specifically makes this illegal.

The Texas Democrats have been exchanging millions of Texas hard money for out-of-state soft money from the DNC for years, and the Democrat hack prosecutor in Austin has done nothing about this. And some of the Texas Democrat swaps would be clearly and specifically illegal, since they involved corporate soft money raised by the DNC being given to the Texas Democrat Party within 60 days of a general election.

I really don’t see the legally bogus charges against Tom DeLay and others going anywhere. They should most likely be dismissed long before trial due to legal insufficiency.

Richard Pope@3–
These LEFTIST PINHEADS have already made up their alleged minds about Tom DeLay.
FOR GOD’S SAKE MAN…..DON’T CONFUSE THE LEFTIST PINHEADS WITH THE FACTS AND THE TRUTH!!!!
Blind hatred makes people do some very, very foolish things.
The LEFTIST PINHEAD branch of the Democratic Party has already overplayed this trumped up charge. And it will completely backfire on them in the next elections.
So will the fact that 22 Democratic Senators…all DEEPLY beholding to the political contributions of the FRINGE LUNATIC LEFT….would vote against Judge Roberts SOLELY to appease their base of LUNATICS!
When I saw the Evan Bayh voted NO….man, what a sellout!
I’m glad Maria Cantvotewell voted NO. Roberts is extremely popular. Her vote of NO is incredibly telling.
When you see the FRINGE LUNATIC LEFTIST PINHEADS gagging in glee with rage & venom BEFORE they have all the facts….you know they have shot themselves in the ass (again!!)

Several people I have talked to over here in Hastings District don’t expect him to run for re-election. He is going to have a hard enough time explaining why he did nothing on the Ethics committee much less worrying about the money he got from Delay. People over here don’t like it when their leaders, republican or democrat) don’t step up to the plate and do the right thing. Doc got bullied by Delay and the GOP over this and it is my bet that he is pretty sick of the whole thing as well. But through all of this there has been alot of “What’s up Doc” over here in 4th.

I am sure they are huddled up. They need to figure out how to spin the fact that they all have been doing what Delay did. (Hillary looks especially vulnerable on the hard/soft laundering issue.) After the last Delay scandal involving travel expenses the prominant head-dems all rushed to “update” previous travel expense reports.

The strategy for the HA “team” should be to tar Delay and other repubs while circling the wagons around the “honest” leader-dems.

This indictment is just an excuse for all the wacko leftists to spew their hatred of Tom DeLay. Nothing has been proven. Heck, nothing has been hardly alledged. But, that doesn’t stop you fools from throwing the BS around. This was all in the play book.

BTW, isn’t Maria Cantwell in the back pocket of Hillary and the special interest groups? Seems I remember that she paid off her campaign debt with lots of corporate money. Fine, except she campaigned against accepting said same. Never mind, she is a democrat, and they never do anything wrong, and never come in for criticism from the left.

All these emotionally charged yet non-factual comments are in your post. And if some liberal responds to you in kind, you will accuse them of running only on emotion and insanity. Your goal is just to wear us out by always using the opposite tack when you are criticised.

But I’m here to help you, not to hurt you. So, Janet, it has come to my attention that your efforts are somewhat scattered and lack focus. Here are 13 wingnut phrases that you can plug into anything you comment on:

rwb@12
I don’t hate you LEFTIST PINHEADS.
Far from it!! You are a key part of my emergency preparedness plan (see the following):
Are you folks all as prepared for the BIG ONE as I am?
LEFTIST PINHEADS are an important part of the food chain. In fact, they are a MAJOR part of my emergency preparedness plan.
You see, my emergency kit consists of a small bottle of water. Now you might consider that totally unprepared but………
I also have plenty of guns and ammo. I only have the bottle of water in case I get thirsty on my way over to rujax’s house to take all his preparedness shit!!! LEFTIST PINHEADS are the absolute best source of food when the big one hits!!!!

I also strongly believe in unfettered public debate on stuff. That’s why I appreciate Goldy. He still hasn’t caved in like most other Blogs. It’s a real “free-for-all”. I have learned much about the LEFTIST PINHEAD fragile psyche right here!!!
No blind hatred from me rwb…..just telling you in no uncertain terms how I feel about LEFTIST PINHEADS. Comprende???

In the interest of accuracy, just one minor correction for you. Whenever you refer to Tom Delay, please say “criminally indicted” because that what these people are who are in the Republican Party — Criminals.

re 14: Anyone can bushwhack a murderous thief , especially if they are expecting them. Have you ever seen a trained Doberman that will hide until you are close and then hit you with a screamingly sudden attack from 3 feet away. Your gun would be useless and you would be toast and the “liberal” would have your guns to boot and a smart and vicious dog to boot. I’m not big on revenge fantasies, but I am ready for the likes of you.

A Thurston County judge yesterday fined the state’s biggest teachers union $400,000 for illegally using union fees for political purposes — the largest court penalty ever awarded in a state Public Disclosure Commission investigation.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Gary Tabor ruled that the Washington Education Association had intentionally violated state law in campaign spending, and matched his $200,000 fine with another $200,000 in punitive fees.

He also ordered the WEA to reimburse the state for investigative and court expenses.

TEACHERS (NEA) / ELECTIONS & POLITICS
Washington Union Sued over Campaign Finance Violations
Washington’s Atty. Gen. filed suit Oct. 9 against the Wash. Educ. Ass’n for using agency fees of nonmembers for political purposes, in violation of the state campaign financing law. The Wash. Public Disclosure Comm’n referred the WEA case Sept. 25 to the AG’s office after finding “multiple” violations of the Wash. Public Disclosure Act. WPDC concluded that agency fees of more than 4,000 teachers and school employees were used for political contributions without the payers’ permission.http://www.nlpc.org/olap/UCU2/03_22_01.htm

Under the settlement agreement, WEA will return to its 65,000 members approximately $330,000 for Community Outreach Program dues that the suit alleged were improperly collected and expended for campaign contributions. An $80,000 penalty and $20,000 in costs and attorney fees incurred by the state during the investigation will also be paid.

S-Choir, never mind about Mr. Cynical (aka Ms Chickenhawk for defaming Gold Star Mothers including Pat Tillman’s mom). First of all, he’d have to venture out of his mother’s basement which he hasn’t done for years.

The very thought of a physical confrontation is enough to make him wet his pants, drop to the fetal position, and suckle his thumb.

In the event of an emergency, his kind are the first to die, normally from panic attacks.

Choosing to make an example of the NEA, does shed some light on this whole problem. I could bore all of you to death about the intricacies and subtle distinctions within NEA by-laws and IRS code that determine what funds are appropriate to be used for PAC purposes and which are not. Suffice it to say that most people running local chapters within WEA and overall around the country in NEA do not have the time or economic funds to accurately prepare either for audits or for the necessities of documenting setasides that make for appropriate contributions that are indeed exempt! The difference, and thanks for setting up the example, is that at the national level NEA contributions are indeed quite legal, while at the more local and state levels, funds that have crossed over are not always properly used.

DeLay on the other hand, in conjunction with his old buddy Dick Armey, wrote these laws, knows them inside out, knows exactly how to abuse them, and is willing to do so because for a couple of decades his Hammer has been quite useful at dispelling investigation and inquiry. Of all the people involved, he knows better, but also has become cravenly comfortable at violating the letter and intent for so long(his own admission on Hannity btw) that he does not believe such actions warrant any responses.

As for what DeLay money buys locally… well over here in the East it has bought McMorris complete docile compliance to his interests. Rather than respond in substance to inquiries she merely signs off on the talking point responses handed to her by the minions of the GOP House caucus apparatus. She clearly does not represent her district but rather her handlers. I have been compiling a collection of these, cross referenced w/ others from GOP representatives in CA and ID, to use in the 2006 election cycle to document her failure in acting responsibly to her own Eastern Washington constituency.

Regarding your post at number 3. ARMPAC is indirectly implicated in the indictment. One of the other defendants, Mr.Ellis, was a fundraiser for ARMPAC. Other sources call him one of the organization’s founders. In addition to this indictment, Mr. Ellis was indicted in 2004 for money laundering. At the end of the day, there’s only one way to test the validity of the indictment and that will be to see if Mr. Delay is convicted or not.

Cheers,
Ray

PS – Thanks for your insights re Texas campaign finance law. I would like to read up on the subject. Where did you get your information?

re 25: Oh, well! We’re still a Democratic state. If that costs 400,000 dollars then it’s money well spent! How about all the “dark funding” that the EFF gets from the radical right wing of the Republican Party?

re : Are you saying they(the EFF) have no political agenda? Are you saying that they haven’t brought lawsuits against the NEA/WEA? If their agenda is to destroy unions and elect Republicans and destroy public education, then they have a political plan—one that is destructive and reductive.

They need to declare who and what they are. I thought forthrightness and honesty were a conservative virtue? But you’re not really conservative at the EFF, you are merely sucking at the teat of the DARK SIDE of rightist propaganda efforts.

The WEA tries to get around the law by having a PAC which is by voluntary contributions only and is seperate from the mandatory dues. Yet practically every year they get caught slipping funds from one to the other. Bob Williams is all over it.

Amazing, when the SCOTUS decisions are presented to the donks, nary a peep, nary a peep. You lefties are lawbreaking enablers! You can thank Lucite for again stepping into the shithole with posts 32 & 35. I decided to investigate and determine what the law says. It should be at least $400K well for illegal lawbreaking activities in every major election cycle! Yeah, well spent doh! If the state had cojones, or guilianis, they should penalize WEA 3/4 of it’s annual budget and/or throw them into Walla Walla Prison. Why do they continually fine them for something already determined as illegal behavior? That would stop their illegal activities. Can you say butt buddy?

What, you didn’t expect Attorney General Gregoire to ever let this see the inside of a court room did you? Every year she would give them a settlement/slap on the wrist for violating campaign finance laws. You know she was bought and paid for.

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